Wings

Wings

They say that life begins at forty.

Everything

before that is practice.

In my experience,

that's true.

As time has passed by,

one of the things

that has surprised

me most is how much

I knew by thirty

and how little of it

I realized that I knew

at the time.

In many ways,no man or woman

ever grows older

than eighteen.

After you take care

of all the business

each day,

spend the rest

of your time

being as young

as you can.

You knew best how to love another

by the time

you were six years old.

Most people

spend much of the rest

of their lives re-learning

how to love

that well again.

As the years roll on one of the best

things you can learn

is how to take

your own advice.

One of the best things

to remember

is what it was like

to be a kid.

Each day, spend time

doing three things---

working or creating something,

doing something fun

to entertain yourself,

and talking

to someone you love.

If you are able,

make your work

the same thing

as your play.

Everyone arrives at a fork in the road

in their late twenties,

again in their forties,

and yet again

in their fifties.

Each time, one path

leads to stagnation

while the other

leads to a frontier.

Each time, if you take

the wrong path,

you'll find yourself

in a ditch

and climbing out of it

will be the only way

to move on.

As the years roll on

if you keep

learning and loving,

you'll grow older

but your heart

will never grow old.

The years

weigh down;

No mind,

it's just ballast

for flight.

Learning and love

 have wings.

Dewey Dirks